It was the beginning of 2018 and I believed that I was on the cusp of "the next big thing."

After nine months of hard work, I had built a platform called Educo with TED Talk speakers to help them turn their content into step-by-step applications that people could use to take action on the advice from their talks.

The idea of helping individuals take action on expert advice had been a dream of mine for years – and finally it was about to become a reality.

Being an old-fashioned guy, my doctor suggested buying a notebook and pen. A fine idea, but it doesn’t quite work for writing articles on the Internet. So I came home, opened Google, and searched for solutions to my problem.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The towers that stood as a symbol of the iconic New York City skyline were up in flames.

People were jumping out of windows…

The streets were filled with emergency responders…

And almost 3,000 people died from the incident…

Even as a Canadian at the time, the images will forever be burned in my memory. And they justifiably instilled a sense of fear into millions of Americans. Americans who would soon lose their lives because of that fear.

Over the next few years alone, almost just as many Americans died due to the terror attacks of 9/11.

I had been studying the biographies of successful people for years trying to find the key factors that led them to greatness. I found things that were pretty obvious indicators of success—dreaming big, setting goals, working hard, and so on.

It felt like I was just hit by a truck. My head crashed hard on the field and was throbbing in pain. It was my first football practice since moving to the United States from Canada, and I was enduring torture.

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.” – Vince Lombardi.

In 2001, Joe DeSena, the founder of The Spartan Race, was in a car accident that ripped his hip out of his socket.

After his injury, the first 4 doctors he met with said that he would never be able to run again. This news devastated Joe. He was an athlete all of his life and could not imagine never running again.

So Joe refused to accept that fate. He decided that he was going to do everything he could to be able to run again. This made him hyperfocused. He was going to prove doctors wrong, and to prove that his will was unbreakable.

Her mother prayed for good news as she sent 3-year old Temple Grandin to a speech therapist.

Diagnosed with autism, Temple was thought to be incapable of learning language. In the 1950s, that meant she would be institutionalized all of her life unless she could show she was capable of entering school.

Her parents tried everything they could, and this speech therapist was their last resort.

Thankfully, against all odds, young Temple made progress. It was slow, but Temple was able to speak well enough to be enrolled in a normal school.

Willpowered

Willpowered was founded on one idea - Help people win the mental battle. All of our products and services are designed based on scientific evidence to help you overcome mental obstacles on the way to achieving your dreams.